Range: Resident in Eastern North America, also across parts of Canada and the Pacific Northwest, where range is expanding.

Identification: (Strix varia)

A large, dark-eyed owl without ear tufts. Adult has brown back with white bars and spots, pale buffy underparts with well-defined vertical brown streaks, round head, dark eyes, and yellow bill. Sexes are similar. Spotted Owl of Western North America has white spots on brown underparts.

Length: 51 (cm)
Wingspan: 107 (cm)

Voice:

Loud hoots, barks, hisses, whistles, and cackles. Common vocalization often rhythmically characterized as "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all."

Habitat:

Wooded swamps, mixed woodlands, large conifers.

Behavior:

Nocturnal. Roosts by day on sheltered tree branch, often mobbed by smaller birds. Nest is in abandoned bird nest or cavity. Hybridizes with Spotted Owl where ranges overlap. Also displaces Spotted Owl in competitive habitats.

Feeding:

Hunts from stationary perch. Eats a variety of small animals including rodents, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.

Field Notes

This species occasionally calls voluntarily during the day and will often respond to imitations or tapes of its calls during daylight hours. When pairs respond together, they will often do odd caterwauling sounds in duet. Begging juveniles utter a sharp rising call that sounds like a slide whistle.